Toy noisemaker



sePt- 6, 1955 J. A. Lol-TIN 2,716,841

TOY NOISEMAKER Filed Aug. 14, 1953 @ZX/y' 2 .Le

' United States Patent Oice 2,7 1%,84 l Patented Sept. 6, l 955 TOY NOISEMAKER John A. Loftin, Louisville, Ky. Application August 14, 1953, Serial No. 374,191

4 Claims. (Cl. 46-191) This invention relates to a novel toy noisemaker involving a plurality of sounding blocks arranged to be manually manipulated into and out of sounding contact while the toy is held in the hands, and the primary object of the invention is to provide a device of this kind which is composed of a minimum number of simple parts, and provides, even for the young or unskilled, an unusual amount of amusement and diversion, and is capable of being operated to produce a variety of controlled sound effects with a reasonable amount of practice and skill.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a device of the character indicated above which can be made in an attractive, rugged and serviceable form, from a variety of available suitable materials, at relatively low cost.

Other important objects and advantageous features of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawing, wherein, for purposes of illustration only, a specific embodiment of the invention is set forth in detail.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a perspective view of said embodiment;

Figure 2 is a top plan View thereof;

Figure 3 is a side elevation thereof; and

Figure 4 is an end elevation thereof, hands being shown in dotted lines in manipulating relation thereto.

Referring in detail to the drawing, wherein like numerals designate like parts throughout the several views, the illustrated toy noisemaker, which is generally designated 5, comprises a plurality of similar, elongated rectangular and relatively thick sounding blocks, here shown as an upper block 6, a lower block 7, and an intermediate block 8. While in the present instance three sounding lblocks are shown, it will be understood that a greater number of sounding blocks could be used with sounding blocks arranged in the same general relationship as the sounding blocks 6, 7 and 8.

The sounding blocks can be made of wood or of plastic material or of other suitable material having desirable sound-producing properties when struck against each other. The sounding blocks are herein shown as solid, but they can be of any other suitable form.

Lengthwise through each sounding block there extends a pivot pin 9 which is located at the longitudinal centers of the blocks and extend longitudinally beyond the end surfaces 10, 10 and engage at spaced intervals through elongated end strips or bars 11, 11 positioned at the opposite ends of the blocks. The pins 9 have heads 12. on their opposite ends which retainably bear against washers 13 which are disposed on the pins 9 between the heads 12 and the end strips or bars 11.

The pins 9 are spaced along the end bars 11 at such intervals that the facing sides of adjacent sounding blocks are spaced from each other at a distance less than the thickness of a sounding block but sucient to permit adjacent sounding blocks to be pivoted on their pins 9 relative to each other so that adjacent sounding blocks can come into sounding contact with each other. In the form of the invention herein shown, noise-making or sound-producing contact of two adjacent sounding blocks involves contact of a corner of one of the longitudinal side edges 15 of a block with the top or bottom surface of the other block.

As shown in Figure 4, one way of operating the device is to place the device between the palms of two hands, 16 and 17 with the palms engaging the side edges of the sounding blocks and then moving the hands back and forth, usually in opposite directions at opposite sides of the device. This will cause adjacent blocks to come into sounding contact.

By varying the positions of the hands on the device, and by varying the amplitudes and directions of movements of the hands 14 and l5 relative to each other, different controlled sound effects can be produced.

What is claimed is:

l. In a toy noisemaker, upper, lower, and intermediate sounding blocks, said sounding blocks being of elongated rectangular shape, said blocks having opposite ends and longitudinal side edges having longitudinal corners, pivot pins extending longitudinally through the blocks at the longitudinal centers of the blocks, said pivot pins having ends extending beyond the said ends of the blocks, end bars extending across the opposite ends of the upper, lower, and intermediate blocks with the pin ends extending through the end bars, and heads on the pin ends bearing against the sides of the end bars remote from the blocks, said pivot pin ends traversing said end bars at intervals less than the width of adjacent sounding blocks whereby a corner of an adjacent sounding block can make sounding contact with another adjacent block as one adjacent sounding block is pivoted relative to the other adjacent sounding block.

2. In a toy noisemaker, a plurality of generally rectangular blocks having opposed ends and longitudinal edges, said blocks being in superimposed relation to each other, adjacent ones of the blocks being spaced from each other at distances less than the width of the blocks, end bars extending across the opposed ends of the blocks and across the spaces between adjacent blocks, and means pivoting the blocks to said end bars to swing relative to each other on axes extending longitudinally of the blocks and spaced from the longitudinal edges of the blocks.

3. In a toy noisemaker, a plurality of generally rectangular blocks having opposed ends and longitudinal edges, said blocks being in superimposed relation to each other, adjacent ones of the blocks being spaced from each other at distances less than the width of the blocks, end bars extending across the opposed ends of the blocks and across the spaces between adjacent blocks, and means pivoting the blocks to said end bars to swing relative to each other on axes extending longitudinally of the blocks and spaced from the longitudinal edges of the blocks, on the longitudinal center lines of the blocks.

4. In a toy noisemaker, a plurality of generally rectangular blocks having opposed ends and longitudinal edges, said blocks being in superimposed relation to each other, adjacent ones of the blocks being spaced from each other at distances less than the width of the blocks, end bars extending across the opposed ends of the blocks and across the spaces between adjacent blocks, and means pivoting the blocks to said end bars to swing relative to each other on axes extending longitudinally of the blocks and spaced from the longitudinal edges of the blocks, on the longitudinal center lines of the blocks, said longitudinal edges having corners arranged to strike portions of adjacent blocks to create sounds as the blocks are manually pivoted relative to each other.

References Cited inthe tile of this patent y UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,151,957 Lobato Aug. 31, 1915 1,438,304 Goldberg Dec. 12, 1922 1,924,957 Orr Aug. 29, 1933 2,289,690 Bakalyar July 14, 1942 

